Picture Perfect

I hate to pick on CJ and Lisa, but the thing is, they have the instant, perfect for any occasion gift for our parents; pictures of the kids. Artsy black and whites, the kids dressed up in matching sailor outfits, sports cards, Halloween costumes; dance costumes, wallet size school photos, you name it. Meanwhile, Dan and I are stuck shopping for perfume and robes and gadgets and doo-dads for every occasion.

Their neighbor and good friend used to take beautiful artsy pictures of the kids walking through the woods, holding hands, or putting all their heads together acting as if they liked each other.

Well we have neighbors and friends too you know. The little girl who lived next door to us, well, isn’t a little girl anymore and just got married. But the point is that when she was younger she and her brothers used to cat-sit while we were away. She is a talented artist, and at some point took really beautiful sepia and black and white photos of our cats at the time, Sophie and Mukki.

When Hanukkah rolled around we proudly presented the beautifully framed photos to my folks. Naturally they got a little teary-eyed, especially when I started looking at spots in their living room where they might be able to hang the photos. Dan pulled out a hammer and picture hangers but for some reason they insisted it would be better to hang them later. All these years and they still haven’t had a minute to get them up on the wall.

When my niece got in to American Girl dolls, suddenly there were formal portraits of her and her dolls. You think I’m going to let that one go? No way. I bought one of those realistic baby dolls and set her up in front of the fireplace with dozens of wrapped gifts all around her. Bam, just like that, we had another Hanukkah gift.

We’ve had lots of great photo ops since then. Years ago we went to Salzburg and took The Sound of Music Tour. When we got to the church where the Captain and Maria were married in the movie, Dan and I asked someone to snap our picture. What better Hanukkah gift than a photo of Dan and me at a church altar? Of course, there was also the picture of me with Mr. Peanut that I described in an earlier blog.

We’ve kind of run out of photo ideas at this point but the folks are getting old and blind as bats so we feel it would be OK to fudge just a little. Please send slightly blurry pictures of your kids so my parents can enjoy a Happy Hanukkah this year. We thank you for your support.